No new work why not?
Family Cancer scare stopped my work
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| My beautiful daughter Liz who was diagnosed with cancer |
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| Lizs left leg showing bulk which turned out be a DESMOID TUMOR this grew to three times its size after the biopsy |
I had a very good year with my online business funkyfindzonlinel, selling my recycled art and clothing at least at the beginning before October , I had been working and posting fairly consistently on my site during the summer while taking my girls to the lake, local fairs and doing me best to make there summer memorable. My youngest daughter Liz had previously had an accident where she injured her foot and had been on crutches for nearly 3 months. shortly after she recovered this bulge appeared seeming out of nowhere. I mistakenly thought it was a muscle .During the summer I took care of liz and her foot , I waited somewhat anxiously for them to go to school so I could begin to create again. I was excited about doing work for HALLOWEEN a favorite time for me and I several ideas of work I wanted to do (which I did) I made several bottles or potion jars and finished up one suitcase which I still haven't posted (plan to do , and is on mental list)
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| Liz cut a large potion of her heal in a freak accident in the beginning of April 2011, here she is at Easter , we opted out of plastic surgery and let the heal mend on its own. we wondered if the medicine used on her foot might have caused the tumor to grow, all the Med profession said no way. After she got off the crutches the large tumor appeared . |
Right after school started we went for our yearly checkup at the local clinic where right there and then my life completely changed. I had thought that is the bump in Lizs leg did not self correct during the summer I would have it checked out, it did not . The Dr. said "mass" ordered an MRI and the fear roller-coaster rid began . After a serious of unfortunate events , where the radiologist and a DR. told me that Liz had an inoperable malignant cancer , a bad one, malignant schwanoma , poor outcome. (this was told to me pre biop results however ) the strangest thing happened my work began to sell like gang busters. Cruel joke of fate really.
I could barely think straight at the time, It was so difficult to even package the orders and I was unable to share in any form of joy , or happiness that I would have normally had. Instead it was this horrible burden trying to ship off these large orders during this time of crisis. It was such a blur.I seriously considered closing my shop down at this time. I did however CEASE all artistic work and did not do any posting what so ever, and not for 7 months ! I still have not done any artwork. (hoping purging some of this might help)
Fortunately I had worked for the past few years posting vintage items in my store and I was able to renew my expired listings which kept my shop active. It seemed that my art had taken off sort to speak I was selling on or two items a week! My husband was out of state at the time that my 11 year old and myself were told in a dr.s office that ?I'm sorry I cant tell you its begin" I was numb. the cancer they "diagnosed" was a nasty one, prognosis , for as big as the tumor was , was not good. We were looking at possibly having her leg amputated, a word that was freely thrown around turning numerous Dr.s visits.
To my great surprise my etsy store continue to produce sales, even though I was unable at times to even check it. I have an EVO phone with a bookmark of my store and I would check on that to see if I made a sale or not and then would try to muster up the strength to pack it together.
WI Dr.s wrong! Pathology from TEXAS said non malignant ! After numerous trips to different Dr.s (in WI to MN) a month later we learned that Marshfeild Clinic pathology had made a mistake . The radiologist read the scan and wrote in his report that she had this horrible caner while a sports Dr. (not kidding ) told Liz and I in his office that it was cancer. It was not a malignant cancer but rather a aggressive Desmoid . Now aggressive chemotherapy, once a week for a year? (Mayo Clinic children Hospital ) was ordered .Needless to say my life now had been incrementally altered. Nothing else mattered to me other that my beloved sweet angle of a girl Liz .(She is truly a remarkable child) It was my job to do the very best for her, it became my full time job, not etys nor my art, my housework, nothing mattered but finding what was best for her.
No art , looking for treatment for 7 months My housework went to the wayside, ( shameful how far things can go ) friendships, my appearance (no manicures or trips to the hairdresser) and the last thing on my mind was revamping or creating new recycled art. I lived in fear, anxiety depression and uncertainty.
It is 7 mounts later and Liz has had surgery were the tumor has been removed. I have started a blog Lizsleftleg.blogspot,com where I wish to write about the crazy process we went threw , what we all discovered about the medical profession and the big money business of cancer coupled with abundant incompetency and the courage of a special surgeon, Dr. David King. for those interested in learning more about our journey. (this blog I have just begun to be able to look at and begin , before it was too painful)
Etsy sellers ...hard work pays offI am slowly trying to put together my life again. I just started posting my long dresses from the 80s (find them here ) I have hundreds that are hanging in my garage , which if I don't start to deal with I may as well give them away.This is the first posting I have done since this ordeal. For etsy sellers , I found however that the 2 years of hard work I put in , really paid off. As I had always worked toward the goal of 1000 items, about 300 of them expired during this time, when I could I would try to renenw at least 10 at a crack. this kept my store relevant (etsy has changed the default search engine to relevant , meaning renenwed listings have a higher rank than just listed) so I continued to sell.
This gave me hope that I had something to go back to, which I have. Before all this happened I had created the etsy team recycled artists which also continued to grow on its own reaching nearly 600 members to date.
Recycled artist ? Join here
My Facebook page has grown as well but much slower , but the point being that I feel now nearly 7 weeks after surgery that I might get back on the horse again sort to speak . My studio is still a shambles and is on the bottom of the housecleaning list but I am fast approaching it and then I shall tackle my first suitcase since this "ordeal" . I had been very private about this with my social media 'family" . Now I let you who admire my work understand why I had become so stagnant and came to such a screeching halt.I hope to continue with my Halloween work in creating Vampire and witches wedding dress to sell at my sister store funkycostumefindz
HERE IS WHAT I SOLD
From funkyfindzonline
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| Vintage phone with candy wrappers and bling |
♥SOLD♥
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| Groovy guitar case purchase as Christmas gift |
♥SOLD♥
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| Funky Peace German war helmet ♥see transaction here |
♥SOLD♥
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| small hardshell Halloween case ♥see transaction here |
♥SOLD♥
From funkyfindzonline
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| Funky halloween PROP made from old baby throw away |
From funkyfindzonline
♥SOLD♥
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| vintage 40s leather suitcase Treat or treat ♥See transaction here |
♥SOLD♥
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| COLLAGE VINTAGE ROLLER SKATING CASE♥ see transaction here |
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| ♥SOLD♥ |
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| Hand painted purse pin up girl |
♥SOLD♥
From funkyfindzonline
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| One of my favorite cases sold to a Marlyn aficionado |
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| Sold to a hair salon, I loved making this piece |
♥SOLD♥
♥see transaction here
♥SOLD♥
♥see transaction here
♥Sold♥
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